The last time it snowed heavily in Rocky Bay the Rocky Bay Primary School was closed and Bill and Bob my nephews couldn’t go to school. Although they do like school they thought that playing in the snow was probably even better!

They made two snowmen in the garden – they were twin snowmen of course. Then they played with their toboggan until their socks inside their wellington boots were so wet they decided they had to go inside to dry them off. While they were there they had some hot chocolate with whipped-cream topping.

After that they went upstairs to look for their dad who was in the attic. He was making sure that no snow had blown in under the tiles – snow has a habit of getting into places that rain never does. lf the roof needed attention, he was going to get in touch with the Rocky Bay builders Reckitt and Stackett.

While they were up there, Bill and Bob found a stack of books that their dad had had when he was a little boy. One of them was about the history of sport.

Now Bill and Bob love playing football, (that is soccer to some of you readers) and they like watching other sports on television as well, so they found this book very interesting.

They found out some very interesting things. Let me tell you about some of them…

They found out that the Olympic Games were started in Greece in the 8th century AD. Only men were allowed to compete in them, and an even stranger fact was that they didn’t wear any clothes!

Nowadays, athletes represent their countries, but in these first Olympic Games the athletes represented the city in Greece that they came from. There were no stopwatches noting their times. The winners were given a wreath made out of laurel leaves.

The events were sprinting, long jump, javelin, discus and wrestling. These sports were designed to improve the men’s athletic skills in order to make them better soldiers.

The idea to hold these types of games again came in 1894, and nowadays, there are many more sports that competitors participate in – over 200 events. Women started to compete in 1928.

Everybody thinks the football team they support is the best. We support the Rocky Bay Rovers. lt is an amateur team.

Football started thousands of years ago – as soon as people started to kick anything about with their feet in a way which needed a degree of skill. lt was recorded in England as far back as 1170, and the teams tended to comprise men of the same trade or profession.

Early games were pretty rough and weren’t guided by the modern rules we have today. Fights often broke out and people were injured and even killed.

The goals could be several miles apart so the games went on for some time! The balls could be leather or wood.

ln fact, the game of football was so dangerous that men were told in 1835 they would be fined if they annoyed people whilst playing it in the street. Some matches were so violent they needed soldiers to break up the mob!

By the mid 18th century it was also being played in public schools.

These were schools that rich children went to. Football was rough, tough and considered to be ‘character building’. Each school had its own rules. This of course made it very difficult for schools to compete against each other. When the teams came together it was very confusing because each side was using different rules!

ln 1863, the Football association was formed and they wrote a list of rules for everyone to observe. These rules allowed players to touch the ball with their hands; so you can see they are not the rules we use today.

The football clubs of today were often originally formed out of men who worked in factories. For example, the first Arsenal Football Club players were workers from the Woolwich Arsenal which was an armaments (weapons) factory.

Sheffield Wednesday was firstly a cricket club that met on a Wednesday. They decided they should play sport all winter to keep themselves fit for when the summer cricket season returned, and they chose to play football to do it.

Football became more popular as a spectator sport when people started getting Saturday afternoons off from work. This was about a hundred years ago. They started to work five and a half days a week instead of six.

Football is now the most watched sport in the world.

The Rocky Bay Rovers play on a Saturday afternoon or a Wednesday evening, but they don’t always play when there is heavy snow on the pitch!

Bill and Bob were wondering if there were any snowman building championships that they could enter – but in any case they thought it was a really cool day!

Bye bye everyone – don’t forget to subscribe to my blog!

Love and kisses

Salty Sam

www.christina-sinclair.com

Bill and Bob’s Joke of the Week

Bill: Which is the nicest smelling part of a football pitch?

Bob: l don’t know. Which is the nicest smelling part of a football pitch?

Increase 2 stitches at the beginning of the next row – purl 1 row (44 sts)

Change to yellow dk yarn

Knit 1 row

knit 1 row

Change to mauve dk yarn

Knit 24 rows of stocking stitch

Cast off loosely

TO MAKE UP

Sew along the shoulder seams.

Sew the tops of the sleeves to the shoulders.

Sew under arm and side seams.

Crochet 160 chains into a length of yellow yarn and run this chain through the base of the ribbing of the collar then attach a bead to each end to neaten.

TROUSER LEGS (KNIT TWO)

Using 3½mm knitting needles and mauve dk yarn cast on 50 stitches

Knit 4 rows of 2 x 2 rib

Change to 4mm knitting needles

Increase 1 stitch at the beginning of the next row – knit 1 row

Increase 1 stitch at the beginning of the next row – purl 1 row (54 sts)

Knit 24 rows of stocking stitch (26 rows)

Cast off 2 stitches at the beginning of the next row, knit 1 row

Cast off 2 stitches at the beginning of the next row, purl 1 row (50 sts)

Knit 22 rows of stocking stitch

Change to 3½mm knitting needles

Knit 4 rows of 2 x 2 rib

Cast off rib-wise

TO MAKE UP

Using Swiss darning stitches embroider 2 ‘go faster’ stripes up the outer sides of the legs – find the centre line and leave two lines of stitches between the yellow stripes.

Sew the trouser legs together up the inside of the legs and the front and back of the body part.

SWEATBAND

Using 4mm knitting needles and mauve dk yarn cast on 80 stitches

Knit 20 rows of garter stitch cast off and sew up the back seam

We support the Rocky Bay Rovers whose colours are lavender and lemon. Not many football teams have lavender and lemon as their strip, so if you want to knit these track suit pyjamas in your team’s colours, of course you can.

Please note that the material on this blog is for personal use and for use in classrooms only.

It is a copyright infringement and, therefore, illegal under international law to sell items made with these patterns.

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